According to a research report released by London University College, the proportion of coal-fired power generation in total power generation in the UK has dropped from 40% in 2013 to about 3% in September 2019 since the carbon tax was imposed in 2013, which means that this measure has effectively promoted the UK's emission reduction and energy transformation.        

    Britain is rich in coal resources and has a long history of coal mining. As an important fuel, coal was also closely related to the British Industrial Revolution. The coal industry used to be the core of the UK's economic growth. According to statistics, at its peak, the UK had about 1.2 million employees and more than 3000 coal mines. Coal has always been an important part of the UK's power supply structure.        

    But the British government said many years ago that relying on "aging, often unreliable" (coal-fired) power plants "will not meet the requirements of developed economies like the UK," and "the biggest and most cost-effective contribution we can make to reducing emissions is to replace coal-fired power plants with gas-fired power plants.".          

  This time, the team led by researchers from University College London in the UK introduced that since 2013, the UK has started to levy carbon tax on carbon dioxide emissions. Since then, coal-fired power generation has gradually been replaced by gas-fired power generation and other forms of power generation with less carbon emissions.    

        Data show that the UK raised its carbon tax to 18 pounds per ton of carbon dioxide (about US $23.4) in 2015, when the share of coal-fired power generation in total power generation fell to 28%, then fell to 5% in 2018 and 3% by September 2019.      

      In 2015, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions as soon as possible, the British government proposed to close 12 coal-fired power plants in the territory by 2023, and strive to fully close domestic coal-fired power generation capacity by 2025. The following year, for the first time since coal-fired power generation appeared in the British power system, "zero coal-fired power generation". Although strictly "zero for a short time", it still marks a new step in the role of renewable energy in the UK's power generation sector.          

  Source: Science and Technology Daily